Just This Once
by BluePup89
Summary: "Zuko finds a dying girl in a burnt out village, and for some reasons he promises her that he will stay by her side until she passes on." – One-Shot. Feedback please?


A/N: Hey guys! This is just a little something I wrote while the next part of chapter one for my other story is being written. It's called "A New Life In The Fire Nation." Take a look if you like, and if you do... please leave a review or a fav maybe? And if you do like it, follow it if you like! Oh, and it will be up very soon don't worry. So, as I said, this is just a little one-shot I wrote a while ago and I thought I would share it with you. It takes place just after "The Water Bending Scroll." It makes sense really, that was a good place in Season one.

Feedback would be great, thanks! I hope you enjoy!

BluePup89 x :)

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Summary: "Zuko finds a dying girl in a burnt out village, and for some reasons he promises her that he will stay by her side until she passes on." – One-Shot.

Rated T: (PG: 15/16): For dark themes and death like desperation.

Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar the Last Airbender, and sadly nor do I own any of its amazing characters.

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Warning! - Dark themes follow...

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Just This Once. - One-Shot.  
Written By ~ BluePup89

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Her eyes just looked up at him; there were nothing to them... all he could see was the door closing on such a young life. Everything she could have accomplished was taking away from her; right in a heartbeat. She just looked dead.

Zuko sighed, kneeling down so he was balanced he wasn't going to touch the ground. The mud was already up to his ankles, for the girl on the other hand... she was covered in it. Her pale face was dirty and for her sake Zuko was glad her mouth had closed itself. Her small body just lay still in the week old mud. The smell was starting to get to him as well and for the first time in his life Zuko felt real sympathy for the young girl. What did she ever do to deserve this? Unfortunately I guess he would never know.

She was dead.

But he thought he would check her pulse just in case. He put two of his fingers up to her neck and waited... nothing. Zuko just shook his head sadly. He never thought he would be feeling like this about someone. Fire Nation or not... she still had her whole life ahead of her, and now it had been taken away from her. Zuko could somewhat accept men, I mean they were only protecting their land and their families of course. But it didn't seemed to get to him as much as it should. Woman and children on the other hand were quite different. They didn't want to fight, Zuko probably knew that the men didn't want to fight half the time either, but what choice did they have? None, not with the Fire Nation killing everything they had worked so hard for. They weren't just going to let them kill off their families. Of course they were going to fight, they would fight and die... and in the long run; they were just throwing their lives away.

More women and children had died in this small village than men; most of the men were off fighting in the war. Just north of here. It was a pity that they wouldn't find out about this until at least two weeks after. The war had made anything nearly impossible to send. Every Nation was cut off from the others. The only way they were going to find out about this quicker is if Zuko sent them a message, but the chance of them believing him at the moment was very low.

No one wanted to believe a Fire bender. Wherever they were telling the truth or not.

As Zuko looked around himself, he notices that there was no one else around. They were all probably on the other side of this place by now. Earth Kingdom villages tended to be slightly bigger than one from the other Nations.

He looked back down at the girl's body. There was something not right about what he was seeing. If she was dead... so why were her eyes shaking, it was ever so slight and you would have to look very closely into her eyes to see it. Most of all you would have to have very good eyesight and despite his scar Zuko's eyesight was very, very good. But now, he was confused. She had no pulse... he checked it again and this time he waited a little longer. She did. It was a very weak one... but she was alive.

A scowl formed on his young face. He knew what she was doing... she was playing dead and she was good at it. However, she did have very intense injuries already and to his knowledge alone; "playing dead" was the only thing keep her alive. If she moved too much she would open up her injuries and she would bleed out.

"You can stop now." Zuko said simply, a little annoyed by her defiance. But, it some way he understood why she did it. and by now the young girl finally figured out that he wasn't going to hurt her. The men had gone and she could finally come out of her act.

She blinked at few times and looked up at Zuko. She didn't look scared, just a little confused maybe. "How are you?" She asked. Her weak voice was only a whisper and Zuko could only just about hear it.

"You first..." He said in some kind of sympatric voice. He wasn't going to order anything out of her. Even if that was totally out of character of him to do so.

"Ming." She said calmly. "Now you tell-" She couldn't finish because a huge coughing fit followed and as it stopped Zuko could just see blood coming out of her mouth, she wasn't dead... however, she was dying.

"Zuko."

"As in Prince Zuko?" He nodded at her, but decided to show a bit of lenience on the dying girl.

"Just call me Zuko. That's all." Ming gave him a weak smile.

"Zuko...?"

"Yes?"

"I'm dying, aren't I?" That question tore through Zuko. He didn't know wherever to answer her or let her figure it out on her own. But he thought it was best if he told her straight. If he was going to do one good thing in his life, he might as well start now.

"You are, yes..."

"You'll stay with me, until I die? You won't leave me like everyone else." Without thinking Zuko nodded.

"Alright. I will." She gave him a quick smile. "Ming... they didn't leave you."

"I know." Was all she said. "I saw what happened. There was so much blood and they were all just falling to the ground, so I ran, trying to see-" Another coughing fit, but this time Zuko put his hand over her arched back and rubbed it around it circles to see if it would calm her down and this time around, it did. As it stopped she thanked him. This caused Zuko to give her a smile. She tried to smile back again. But this time she couldn't.

"Try and carry on." She did. Well, tried anyway.

"I wanted to get away, but as I turned on this spot here... a Fire ball just hit me. It hurt so much, it still burns now." She pointed to the middle of her cheat and that was the killing blow. That injury would bring about her death. Her breathing was already becoming laboured and wrong. Ming didn't have long left. "Please... hold- ho-" Zuko got what she was attempting to say. He took her trembling hand and with that she laid her head back down fully to the ground.

She tried to talk again. "I've heard quite a few things about you-" Zuko didn't look her in the eyes. He looked away, "and you know what?" He looked back down at her.

"What?"

"I don't believe a word of it. You're a good man... Prince Zuko."

He smiled. "How old are you?"

"Twelve." She couldn't say much more.

"Well then act your age. You're too young to talk the way you do."

"There's no time..." She let out a faint laugh.

"You're still breathing aren't you?" Ming got what he was trying say.

"Okay, then... I'll give it one try and then- then you'll promise me something if I do, right?" Zuko nodded. Not knowing what he was getting himself into. "What should I do?" She asked.

"Just say something..."

"I hate the Fire Nation, it's filled with nothing but mean people who thinks it right to go around hurting people... and- and" She began to weep, "and- and I- I don't want to die..." The tears came faster now. "But-" She looked at Zuko. "I don't hate you."

"Thank you. Come on... don't cry, you'll be alright. Think about it. There will be no more pain, or no more war to worry about. Your God will make sure that you're happy and you'll be able to see the family you've lost..."

"Yeah, I guess so... well, I tried; now you have to promise me something?"

"What?"

"How old are you?"

"Sixteen."

"Well... act your age Zuko... and- and do the right thing in life no matter how much it hurts..." She smiled, it was ever so weak, but Ming made it happen. "Please- ple-" She nearly gave up, but found some strength to at least finish "Promise me you'll try..."

"I promise, Ming... I'll try." And with those words said... Ming's eyes finally shut, her chest stopped moving and the tears stopped falling. She was gone. She was finally at peace; far away from this terrible war.

After a few minutes of thinking, Zuko stood. Looking down at Ming. He finally realized what she had said... what she meant. Zuko sighed and went to walk away. But he took one last look at her before he did. Zuko would make sure she got a proper burial just like everyone else in this village.

"Goodbye Ming. Rest well with Akira." With that he walked away.

As he turned the comer he ran into this uncle, who gave him one of his looks.

"What?" Zuko asked.

"That was a very good thing you just did." Iroh smiled. "I'm proud of you."

"Wait how did you-"

"I could see it from over there. He pointed to one of the buildings. Zuko just glared at him. But thanked him for his kind words.

"Uncle...? What do you think I should do, I mean you hear it, right? I know she right even if she's only a child-"

"Zuko, the only way you are really going to regain your honour is if you do it yourself. Honour can't be taken away, not really. Honour is what makes us feel that we mean something, to someone or to something. It makes us proud to be who we are. Your father was just saying... well words. He sent you on an impossible task. Even he thought the Avatar had years of training. He thought he had mastered all of the elements. He thought he was sending you to your death... but it seems he was wrong, we were all wrong." Iroh shrugged. "Take this crew, you saved them from death even if you did not see it at the time, your heart was in the right place, but you acted at the wrong time. This crew will never leave you. However, they miss their families dearly and you of all people should understand that. You know what I think you should do?"

Zuko had a faint idea of what he was getting at, but at that point in time, no he didn't.

"The Avatar needs a Fire bending teacher. Well, he will at one point and no one from the Fire Nation is going to train him, are they? So why don't you see past your father and go and teach the Avatar Fire bender."

_What are you made?!_

"I'm sure if you explain yourself to them they will come to understand why you did what you did. Anyway, I think that's what that little girl meant when she said: do the right thing." After Iroh had finished, he just smiled at him nephew. "Do the right thing... but no matter what you do, or where you go, I will always be proud of you and I'll always be here for you and this crew will give you everything you need. Because you might not have a great family Zuko but you will always have this crew to come back to if you need them."

Zuko really didn't know what to say. "Thank you uncle."

"Now, how about some tea?" He looked up at his nephew with begging eyes.

"Fine." Zuko rolled his. "But I have to take care of a few things first." Iroh just smiled and walked away.

He walked over to his head guard. "There are three things I want you to do." Jee just nodded. "One: make sure every person here had a proper burial. Two: Send a letter to the men fighting just north of here about this and three: once you've finished... do whatever you want, alright?"

"Thank you, Sir." Jee looked more than shocked at this, but he wouldn't argue with it.

Zuko just nodded and walked away, he had some thinking to do.

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Zuko was always known to keep his word, because he did; even if he didn't agree with what he was doing, but maybe just this once he believed that it was the right thing to do and if he followed it through until the end, maybe in the long run... he would have a good life after all.

After fighting with himself for what seemed like hours Zuko finally decided he was going to try and join the Avatar and fight for his crew's rights to return back home... to their families. He would make sure his father fell, he wouldn't take pleasure in it, but it was the right thing to do and just this once... he was going to do the right thing. Just this once.

He looked up at night sky and for one last time that day he smiled.

"Thank you, Ming."

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A/N: Like it? Hate it? I was going to do a sequel... but what do you think, should here be one? Or is it good the way it is? So many questions to be answered... Well please leave a review and tell me what you think it would mean a lot. Sorry if Zuko was a little OCC

Oh, and by the way... just as a reminder: The next chapter for "The New Life In The Fire Nation" will be up very soon, and I hope you like it when it's up. Oh and please keep reviewing and I hoped you enjoy my story.

Thanks!

Until next time.

BluePup89 x :)


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